A hernia defect is an opening or weakness in a tissue or muscle wall, such as the abdominal wall. One approach for repairing a hernia is to cover the tissue or muscle wall defect with a patch of repair fabric. The patch may be placed in an open procedure or through a minimally invasive procedure, such as by a laparoscopic technique.
In a hernia repair procedure, a patch may be delivered through a surgical incision to a treatment site within the patient. Because the patch is typically larger than the pathway to the surgical site, the patch may be reduced in size to enable passage through the surgical opening into the patient. After deployment at the treatment site, the patch needs to return to an enlarged shape sufficient to cover the defect. Certain hernia repair patches include a resilient support member, such as an elastic filament, that is collapsed along with the patch into a reduced configuration and delivered through the surgical opening. After delivery through the incision, the resilient support member opens, such as by unfurling if rolled into the reduced configuration, causing the associated patch to expand into the enlarged repair configuration. The expanded patch including the resilient support member is then fixated to the tissue or muscle wall over the defect.